Even If You Do Nothing Else to Safeguard Your Family Photos, Do This One Thing...
The One Thing
Get them out of your basement, out of your attic, out of your garage and into a safe spot inside your home. That’s it. That’s the first, most important step. Before you scan, before you sort, before you label or digitize, just rescue them from the places that destroy them fastest.
Because basements flood.
Attics bake.
Garages freeze and thaw.
Temperature swings, humidity, mold, and even small roof or plumbing leaks silently ruin photos, negatives, and old videotapes long before you ever notice. Once that damage starts, it can’t be reversed.
What Counts as a “Safe Spot”?
You don’t need a fancy setup, just choose somewhere inside your living area (not an unfinished attic or basement):
Away from direct heat or sunlight
Ideally on a main or upper floor
Against an interior wall
Somewhere you’d protect in an emergency, because these memories are that valuable
A bedroom closet, hall cabinet, or spare shelf in your home office is perfect. If you can store them in a waterproof, plastic bin, even better.
If You’re Up for a Little More
If you have the energy while you’re moving your photos, do a quick, no-emotional-attachment edit:
Toss obvious duplicates, envelopes of double prints, or the blurry “what was this even?” shots.
If you have time, move the keepers into uniform photo storage boxes.
They’ll take up less space.
They’ll be easier to handle later when you’re ready to organize or digitize.
Don’t overthink it. This is just about giving your memories a better chance to survive the next decade in one piece.
Bottom Line
Your photos don’t have to be perfectly organized, you just have to get them safe.
One small action today can keep a lifetime of stories safe for tomorrow.
At SPO, we believe the first step to preserving your story is simply protecting it. But when you are ready to take that next step, we are ready to help.